美国国家公共电台 NPR Unhappy Anniversary, South Sudan

 

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

Six years ago this week, South Sudan became an independent state. The moment marked the end of decades of fighting between rebels in the predominantly Christian¹ south and their northern Arab rivals in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum. The creation of South Sudan was a major U.S. foreign policy success that had been championed by politicians on both sides of the aisle² dating back to the Clinton administration. But just a few years after its birth, South Sudan has disintegrated³ into one of the world's worst humanitarian⁴ disasters in the world. NPR's Jason Beaubien reports.

JASON BEAUBIEN, BYLINE⁵: South Sudan by any measure right now is a mess. Civil war broke out late in 2013. Millions of people have been forced to flee their homes. Famine was declared in parts of the country in February. And now more than half the population is on the brink⁶ of starvation.

ISAIAH MAJOK DAU: At the moment, the two biggest things in South Sudan are the problem of famine as well as the escalation⁷ of violence - civil war itself.

BEAUBIEN: Bishop⁸ Isaiah Majok Dau, the overseer of the Sudan Pentecostal Church, says the situation in South Sudan has been going from bad to worse.

DAU: So we are hungry, and we are afraid at the same time.

BEAUBIEN: The Bishop spoke⁹ to NPR during a recent visit to Washington D.C. In 2011, when the predominantly Christian South Sudan formally broke away from Khartoum, cheers erupted in the dirt streets of the capital, Juba. But that jubilation¹⁰ was short lived. And independent South Sudan was one of the poorest countries in the world.

It had almost no paved roads. Most of the population survived as subsistence farmers. Schools were in shambles¹¹. The only significant source of revenue for the fledgling nation was its oil wells, which quickly became a prize to fight over. Richard Downie, the deputy director of the Africa Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, says he's very pessimistic about the current civil war in South Sudan being resolved anytime soon.

RICHARD DOWNIE: First and foremost, so many lives have been lost. The country has collapsed¹³. The economy is in ruins. And the humanitarian disaster that South Sudan is currently facing is really just astonishing.

BEAUBIEN: Nearly 4 million of the country's 11 million people have been driven from their homes. Millions more face severe food shortages. Inflation last year pushed above 800 percent. In 2013, the vice¹⁴ president, who's from the Nuer tribe, took up arms against the president who's a Dinka. The country has become sharply divided along ethnic¹⁵ lines, and human rights groups warn the country could be on the verge¹⁶ of a genocide. Downie says the collapse¹² of South Sudan has been incredibly frustrating¹⁷ for Western diplomats¹⁸ who worked so hard to establish the country.

DOWNIE: It's particularly galling¹⁹ for the United States, given the investment it's made in the country, that its own aid workers have been the target of attacks, of rapes²⁰, that journalists have been targeted for abuse, that humanitarian supplies and donations from the U.S. have been stolen, looted or even prevented from reaching the people who most need them.

BEAUBIEN: NPR's East Africa correspondent, Eyder Peralta, was jailed for four days in Juba for attempting to report on the situation in South Sudan. One of the international aid groups that's continued to work there is Mercy Corps²¹. Mercy Corps' country director, Deepmala Mahla, is based in Juba. She says it's become harder and harder for aid groups to operate in South Sudan for a variety of reasons.

DEEPMALA MAHLA: Ongoing²² fighting, yes, active hostility²³ towards aid workers, intimidation²⁴, looting of our facilities, attacks, killings²⁵. I would say sometimes bureaucracy, weather, rains, absence of roads.

BEAUBIEN: South Sudan has terrible infrastructure²⁶. Aid groups have to fly many of their supplies around the country because the roads are impassable. But Mahla stresses that the thing that's hurting the people of South Sudan the most is the war - the complete lack of security for South Sudanese and for humanitarian groups that are trying to help them.

MAHLA: The biggest issue in South Sudan is that we are trying to find a humanitarian solution to a political problem.

BEAUBIEN: Until there is progress on peace, she says, there isn't going to be progress on anything else. Bishop Dau from the Pentecostal church says part of the problem is that his country has known nothing but war for decades. All South Sudanese, he says, from the oldest to the youngest are children of war. But he still has faith that peace will come.

DAU: Because the darker the night, the brighter the light will shine. It's part of our message as a church at the moment is to tell the people, hey, there is hope. What has a beginning, will have an ending one time. So we pray. And we work. And we hope that the best is yet to come for our country.

BEAUBIEN: Jason Beaubien, NPR News.

(SOUNDBITE OF LITTLE PEOPLE SONG, "ALDGATE PATTERNS")

1 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

2 aisle   

n.（教堂、教室、戏院等里的）过道，通道

参考例句：

• The aisle was crammed with people.过道上挤满了人。
• The girl ushered me along the aisle to my seat.引座小姐带领我沿着通道到我的座位上去。

3 disintegrated   

v.（使）破裂[分裂，粉碎]，（使）崩溃( disintegrate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The plane disintegrated as it fell into the sea. 飞机坠入大海时解体了。
• The box was so old;it just disintegrated when I picked it up. 那箱子太破旧了，我刚一提就散了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 humanitarian   

n.人道主义者，博爱者，基督凡人论者

参考例句：

• She has many humanitarian interests and contributes a lot to them.她拥有很多慈善事业，并作了很大的贡献。
• The British government has now suspended humanitarian aid to the area.英国政府现已暂停对这一地区的人道主义援助。

5 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

6 brink   

n.(悬崖、河流等的)边缘，边沿

参考例句：

• The tree grew on the brink of the cliff.那棵树生长在峭壁的边缘。
• The two countries were poised on the brink of war.这两个国家处于交战的边缘。

7 escalation   

n.扩大，增加

参考例句：

• The threat of nuclear escalation remains. 核升级的威胁仍旧存在。 来自辞典例句
• Escalation is thus an aspect of deterrence and of crisis management. 因此逐步升级是威慑和危机处理的一个方面。 来自辞典例句

8 bishop   

n.主教，（国际象棋）象

参考例句：

• He was a bishop who was held in reverence by all.他是一位被大家都尊敬的主教。
• Two years after his death the bishop was canonised.主教逝世两年后被正式封为圣者。

9 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

10 jubilation   

n.欢庆，喜悦

参考例句：

• The goal was greeted by jubilation from the home fans.主场球迷为进球欢呼。
• The whole city was a scene of jubilation.全市一片欢腾。

11 shambles   

n.混乱之处；废墟

参考例句：

• My room is a shambles.我房间里乱七八糟。
• The fighting reduced the city to a shambles.这场战斗使这座城市成了一片废墟。

12 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。

13 collapsed   

adj.倒塌的

参考例句：

• Jack collapsed in agony on the floor. 杰克十分痛苦地瘫倒在地板上。
• The roof collapsed under the weight of snow. 房顶在雪的重压下突然坍塌下来。

14 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

15 ethnic   

adj.人种的，种族的，异教徒的

参考例句：

• This music would sound more ethnic if you played it in steel drums.如果你用钢鼓演奏，这首乐曲将更具民族特色。
• The plan is likely only to aggravate ethnic frictions.这一方案很有可能只会加剧种族冲突。

16 verge   

n.边，边缘；v.接近，濒临

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• She was on the verge of bursting into tears.她快要哭出来了。

17 frustrating   

adj.产生挫折的，使人沮丧的，令人泄气的v.使不成功( frustrate的现在分词 )；挫败；使受挫折；令人沮丧

参考例句：

• It's frustrating to have to wait so long. 要等这么长时间，真令人懊恼。
• It was a demeaning and ultimately frustrating experience. 那是一次有失颜面并且令人沮丧至极的经历。 来自《简明英汉词典》

18 diplomats   

n.外交官( diplomat的名词复数 )；有手腕的人，善于交际的人

参考例句：

• These events led to the expulsion of senior diplomats from the country. 这些事件导致一些高级外交官被驱逐出境。
• The court has no jurisdiction over foreign diplomats living in this country. 法院对驻本国的外交官无裁判权。 来自《简明英汉词典》

19 galling   

adj.难堪的,使烦恼的,使焦躁的

参考例句：

• It was galling to have to apologize to a man she hated. 令人恼火的是得向她憎恶的男人道歉。
• The insolence in the fellow's eye was galling. 这家伙的傲慢目光令人恼怒。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹

20 rapes   

n.芸苔( rape的名词复数 )；强奸罪；强奸案；肆意损坏v.以暴力夺取，强夺( rape的第三人称单数 )；强奸

参考例句：

• The man who had committed several rapes was arrested. 那个犯了多起强奸案的男人被抓起来了。 来自辞典例句
• The incidence of reported rapes rose 0.8 percent. 美国联邦调查局还发布了两份特别报告。 来自互联网

21 corps   

n.(通信等兵种的)部队；(同类作的)一组

参考例句：

• The medical corps were cited for bravery in combat.医疗队由于在战场上的英勇表现而受嘉奖。
• When the war broke out,he volunteered for the Marine Corps.战争爆发时，他自愿参加了海军陆战队。

22 ongoing   

adj.进行中的，前进的

参考例句：

• The problem is ongoing.这个问题尚未解决。
• The issues raised in the report relate directly to Age Concern's ongoing work in this area.报告中提出的问题与“关心老人”组织在这方面正在做的工作有直接的关系。

23 hostility   

n.敌对，敌意；抵制［pl.］交战，战争

参考例句：

• There is open hostility between the two leaders.两位领导人表现出公开的敌意。
• His hostility to your plan is well known.他对你的计划所持的敌意是众所周知的。

24 intimidation   

n.恐吓，威胁

参考例句：

• The Opposition alleged voter intimidation by the army.反对党声称投票者受到军方的恐吓。
• The gang silenced witnesses by intimidation.恶帮用恐吓的手段使得证人不敢说话。

25 killings   

谋杀( killing的名词复数 )； 突然发大财，暴发

参考例句：

• His statement was seen as an allusion to the recent drug-related killings. 他的声明被视为暗指最近与毒品有关的多起凶杀案。
• The government issued a statement condemning the killings. 政府发表声明谴责这些凶杀事件。

26 infrastructure   

n.下部构造，下部组织，基础结构，基础设施

参考例句：

• We should step up the development of infrastructure for research.加强科学基础设施建设。
• We should strengthen cultural infrastructure and boost various types of popular culture.加强文化基础设施建设，发展各类群众文化。